Playlists¶

Tentacle creates and manages Jellyfin playlists automatically. Content is tagged behind the scenes, and playlists are built from those tags — you just toggle what you want and Tentacle handles the rest.

The Playlists Page¶

Go to Jellyfin → Playlists to manage your playlists. There are two types:

Auto Playlists¶

Auto playlists are generated automatically from your synced content. They appear as toggle switches — turn on the ones you want created in Jellyfin.

Source Playlists¶

One playlist per streaming provider source. If you have Netflix and Amazon categories synced, you'll see:

• Netflix Movies
• Netflix TV
• Amazon Movies
• Amazon TV
• HBO MAX Movies
• (etc.)

List Playlists¶

One playlist per active list subscription. If you've subscribed to the IMDb Top 250 list, you'll see an "IMDB TOP 250" auto playlist.

Built-in Playlists¶

Always available:

• Recently Added Movies — Movies added in the last 30 days
• Recently Added TV — Series with episodes added in the last 30 days
• Downloaded Movies — All content from Radarr

Toggling¶

Click the toggle switch to enable or disable a playlist. Changes sync to Jellyfin automatically — no manual action needed. Enabled playlists are created in Jellyfin as private playlists owned by your user account.

Custom Playlists¶

Create your own playlists with custom filters. Click + Create in the Custom Playlists section.

Friendly Builder¶

The default creation view offers simple controls:

• Name — What to call the playlist
• Content type — Movies, TV, or both
• Content source — All content, from a specific provider, from a list, or downloaded only
• Genre — Filter by genre (Comedy, Action, Drama, etc.)
• Minimum rating — TMDB community rating threshold
• Year after — Only content released after this year

Advanced Mode¶

Click Show advanced filters to reveal the full condition builder. This lets you create complex rules with multiple field/operator/value conditions:

Editing¶

Clicking an existing custom playlist opens it in advanced mode for editing. Changes auto-sync to Jellyfin when you save.

Deleting¶

Delete a custom playlist and it's removed from Jellyfin automatically. If it was on your home screen, the row is also removed.

Sort Order¶

Each playlist can have its own sort order. Click the sort button on any playlist to choose:

• Release Date — By premiere date
• Name — Alphabetical
• Rating — By TMDB rating
• Recently Added — By when Tentacle added it
• Random — Shuffled order

Changing the sort clears and re-populates the Jellyfin playlist in the new order.

Playlist Artwork¶

Tentacle auto-generates playlist artwork using Logo.dev — provider logos are fetched and set as the playlist image in Jellyfin. This happens during the nightly sync.

How Tags Work (Behind the Scenes)¶

You don't need to understand tags to use playlists, but here's what happens internally:

1. VOD content — Tagged via <tag> elements in NFO files. Jellyfin reads these automatically for .strm files.
2. Radarr content — Tagged via the Jellyfin API. Jellyfin ignores NFO tags for downloaded .mkv files.
3. Tag format — Source tags include the media type suffix: "Netflix Movies", "Netflix TV", "Downloaded Movies".
4. Playlist query — Auto playlists query Jellyfin for items with matching tags. Custom playlists with native conditions (genre/rating/year) query Jellyfin directly.

Per-User Playlists¶

Every playlist is per-user:

• Each user has their own set of auto playlist toggles
• Each user can create their own custom playlists
• Jellyfin playlists are created as private (IsPublic=false), owned by each user's Jellyfin account
• Playlist configs are stored at /data/smartlists/{jellyfin_user_id}/

Auto-Sync Behavior¶

You never need to manually sync playlists. Changes are pushed to Jellyfin automatically when you:

• Toggle an auto playlist on/off
• Create, edit, or delete a custom playlist
• Change a playlist's sort order
• Run a VOD sync (new content triggers playlist refresh)
• Radarr/Sonarr webhook fires (new downloads are added to relevant playlists)

The nightly 3 AM sync also refreshes all playlists for all users.